Overweight among low-income Texas preschoolers aged 2 to 4 years.

Objective: Determine child/maternal factors associated with overweight among 2- to 4-year-olds enrolled in the Texas Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).

Design: Matched child and maternal data collected by self-report of the mother during WIC certification. These data were extracted from existing statewide WIC databases and merged.

Prior contraceptive use among women who gave birth in the US-Mexico border region, 2005: the Brownsville-Matamoros Sister City Project for Women's Health.

Introduction: Dramatic population growth in the US-Mexico border region suggests more effective family planning services are needed, yet binational data are scarce. The Brownsville-Matamoros Sister City Project for Women's Health collected binational, standardized data from 947 postpartum women in Cameron County (Texas) and Matamoros (Tamaulipas, Mexico) hospitals from August through November 2005.

Methods: We analyzed these data to estimate the proportion of women with unintended pregnancy and the proportion of these women who reported contraceptive use, and to identify associated factors.

Prenatal HIV testing in the US-Mexico border region, 2005: the Brownsville-Matamoros Sister City Project for Women's Health.

Introduction: Routine prenatal human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) screening provides a critical opportunity to diagnose HIV infection, begin chronic care, and prevent mother-to-child transmission. However, little is known about the prevalence of prenatal HIV testing in the US-Mexico border region. We explored the correlation between prenatal HIV testing and sociodemographic, health behavior, and health exposure characteristics.

Characteristics of young women who gave birth in the US-Mexico border region, 2005: the Brownsville-Matamoros Sister City Project for Women's Health.

Introduction: Childbearing during adolescence and young adulthood is associated with adverse effects on health and quality of life. Lowering birth rates among young women is a binational priority in the US-Mexico border region, yet baseline information about birth rates and pregnancy risk is lacking. Increased understanding of the characteristics of young women who give birth in the region will help target high-risk groups for sexual and reproductive health services.

Attempted breastfeeding before hospital discharge on both sides of the US-Mexico border, 2005: the Brownsville-Matamoros Sister City Project for Women's Health.

Introduction: The US-Mexico border region has a growing population and limited health care infrastructure. Preventive health behaviors such as breastfeeding ease the burden on this region's health care system by reducing morbidity and health care costs. We examined correlates of attempted breastfeeding before hospital discharge on each side of the US-Mexico border and within the border region.

Cervical cancer screening among women who gave birth in the US-Mexico border region, 2005: the Brownsville-Matamoros Sister City Project for Women's Health.

Introduction: The objective of this study was to examine correlates of ever having had a Papanicolaou (Pap) test among women who recently delivered a live infant and who resided near the US-Mexico border.

Methods: This cross-sectional study included women who delivered a live infant in Matamoros, Mexico (n = 488) and Cameron County, Texas (n = 453). Women were interviewed in the hospital before discharge between August 21 and November 9, 2005.

Paradox found (again): infant mortality among the Mexican-origin population in the United States.

Recent research suggests that the favorable mortality outcomes for the Mexican immigrant population in the United States may largely be attributable to selective out-migration among Mexican immigrants, resulting in artificially low recorded death rates for the Mexican-origin population. In this paper we calculate detailed age-specific infant mortality rates by maternal race/ethnicity and nativity for two important reasons: (1) it is extremely unlikely that women of Mexican origin would migrate to Mexico with newborn babies, especially if the infants were only afew hours or afew days old; and (2) more than 50% of all infant deaths in the United States occur during the first week of life, when the chances of out-migration are very small. We use concatenated data from the U.

Primary cesarean deliveries prior to labor in the United States, 1979-2004.

Objectives: To provide for the United States yearly estimates of first-time (primary) cesareans prior to labor and to examine factors associated with 1979-2004 trends.

Methods: We estimated the annual percent of total, primary, and repeat cesareans with and without labor for 15- to 44-year-old women with live births in the 1979-2004 National Hospital Discharge Survey (NHDS; N=706,062). For women without prior cesareans (N=628,064), we used logistic regression to examine whether trends in primary cesarean before labor are explained by changes over time in: (1) the frequency of pregnancy complications, women's age, principal source of payment for delivery, hospital ownership, size, and region; and (2) the decision to deliver by cesarean when complications are present.

Processes linked to contact changes in adoptive kinship networks.

The purpose of this study was to reveal underlying processes in adoptive kinship networks that experienced increases or decreases in levels of openness during the child's adolescent years. Intensive case study analyses were conducted for 8 adoptive kinship networks (each including an adoptive mother, adoptive father, adopted adolescent, and birth mother), half of whom had experienced an increase in openness from indirect (mediated) to direct (fully disclosed) contact and half of whom had ceased indirect contact between Waves 1 and 2 of a longitudinal study. Adoptive mothers tended to be more involved in contact with the birth mother than were adoptive fathers or adopted adolescents.

Trends in maternal request cesarean delivery from 1991 to 2004.

Objective: To review definitions and terminology for and to estimate percentages of maternal request cesarean deliveries in the United States between 1991 and 2004.

Methods: National Hospital Discharge Survey data 1991-2004 (N=458,767) were used to identify maternal request cesarean deliveries. After excluding women with a history of cesarean delivery, women who labored, and women with indicated risks against labor, 2,394 potential maternal request cesarean deliveries remained.

Chicken soup inhibits neutrophil chemotaxis in vitro.

Chicken soup has long been regarded as a remedy for symptomatic upper respiratory tract infections. As it is likely that the clinical similarity of the diverse infectious processes that can result in "colds" is due to a shared inflammatory response, an effect of chicken soup in mitigating inflammation could account for its attested benefits. To evaluate this, a traditional chicken soup was tested for its ability to inhibit neutrophil migration using the standard Boyden blindwell chemotaxis chamber assay with zymosan-activated serum and fMet-Leu-Phe as chemoattractants.

Bronchial epithelial cells regulate fibroblast proliferation.

Chronic bronchitis frequently leads to irreversible airway obstruction. Alteration of airway architecture with abnormal airway connective tissue is thought to play an important role in this process. We hypothesized that the epithelial cells that line the airways modulate the development of peribronchial fibrosis and fixed airway obstruction by directing fibroblast proliferation.

Neurotensin stimulates neutrophil adherence to bronchial epithelial cells in vitro.

Neutrophils and neuropeptides have both been implicated in airway inflammation. We hypothesized that neurotensin, a neuropeptide found in the airways, would stimulate neutrophil adherence to bronchial epithelial cells. Adherence was assessed using 51Cr-labelled human neutrophils added to confluent monolayers of bovine bronchial epithelial cells.

Inhibitors of nitric oxide synthase attenuate human neutrophil chemotaxis in vitro.

Products released through the L-arginine/nitric oxide biosynthetic pathway regulate soluble guanyl cyclase activity, which in turn modulates polymorphonuclear leukocyte chemotaxis. We hypothesized that inhibitors of nitric oxide synthase attenuate polymorphonuclear leukocyte chemotaxis in vitro. To test this hypothesis, unstimulated polymorphonuclear leukocytes were pretreated with buffer or the nitric oxide synthase inhibitors NG-monomethyl-L-arginine (L-NMMA), NG-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester, and L-canavanine before being exposed to three structurally unrelated chemoattractants, N-formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine, C5a des arginine, and leukotriene B4.

Bovine bronchial epithelial cells metabolize L-arginine to L-citrulline: possible role of nitric oxide synthase.

The conversion of L-arginine to L-citrulline is catalyzed by nitric oxide synthase (NOS), and results in the release of nitric oxide (NO). We hypothesized that bronchial epithelial cells metabolize L-arginine to L-citrulline. We found that cell lysates obtained from unstimulated, cultured bovine bronchial epithelial cells (BBECs) converted L-[3H]arginine to L-[3H]citrulline.

Modulation of neutrophil and mononuclear cell adherence to bronchial epithelial cells.

Neutrophils and mononuclear cells have been associated with the lower respiratory tract inflammation observed in both acute and chronic bronchitis. In order to transit into and remain within the airways, neutrophils and mononuclear cells would likely need to adhere to bronchial epithelium. To test this hypothesis, bovine bronchial epithelial cells (BBECs) were isolated and cultured on a round coverslip.

Regional distribution of emphysema: correlation of high-resolution CT with pulmonary function tests in unselected smokers.

High-resolution computed tomography (CT) was correlated with pulmonary function tests in the evaluation of regional emphysema in 59 smokers. The lung was divided into upper (above the carina tracheae) and lower (below the carina tracheae) zones, and the degree of emphysema was graded with a subjective and an objective measurement. Functional emphysema was defined as a diffusion capacity less than 75% of predicted and forced expiratory volume in 1 second less than 80% of predicted.

Gcglobulin functions as a cochemotaxin in the lower respiratory tract. A potential mechanism for lung neutrophil recruitment in cigarette smokers.

Activation of the complement pathway with generation of the potent chemotaxin C5a may play a significant role in the neutrophil accumulation seen in the lungs of patients with smoking-associated diseases. Although C5a is rapidly degraded to the less potent chemotaxin C5a des Arg, binding of this peptide with its cochemotaxin Gcglobulin (GcG) can restore its chemotactic potency. Therefore, modulation of Gcglobulin levels in smoking-induced lung disease could affect the accumulation of neutrophils seen in this disorder.

Complement activation by cigarette smoke.

Lung disease secondary to cigarette smoking is associated with an influx of neutrophils and monocytes into the lower respiratory tract. To determine whether cigarette smoke can generate chemotactic activity, human serum was exposed to cigarette smoke and evaluated for neutrophil and monocyte chemotactic activity. Serum exposed to cigarette smoke attracted significantly greater numbers of neutrophils and monocytes compared with normal human serum exposed to air (P less than 0.

Inactivation of chemotactic factor inactivator by cigarette smoke. A potential mechanism of modulating neutrophil recruitment to the lung.

Activation of the complement system with generation of the potent neutrophil chemotactic factor C5a has been proposed to play a significant role in the neutrophil accumulation in the lungs of cigarette smokers. Chemotactic factor inactivator (CFI) can inhibit C5a-directed neutrophil chemotaxis by binding to the C5a cochemotaxin GcGlobulin (GcG), a vitamin-D-binding protein, and inhibiting the capacity of GcG to enhance the chemotactic activity of C5a. Because cigarette smoke can inhibit the function of some proteins, a loss of CFI functional activity induced by cigarette smoke would allow an increased capacity of GcG to augment C5a-directed neutrophil chemotaxis.

Functional loss of chemotactic factor inactivator in the adult respiratory distress syndrome.

The adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is often characterized by a neutrophilic alveolitis, which may be mediated in part by the neutrophil chemoattractant, C5a. Chemotactic factor inactivator (CFI) can decrease C5a-directed neutrophil chemotaxis. Thus, a loss of CFI activity in the ARDS lung could lead to an increased ability of C5a to attract neutrophils.

Modulation of alveolar macrophage leukotriene B4 released by complement component C5.

The release of neutrophil chemotactic activity by the guinea pig alveolar macrophage (AM) is dependent on the fifth component of complement (C5) on the cell surface. Because one potent chemotactic factor released by AMs is leukotriene B4 (LTB4), we hypothesized that cell surface C5 may modulate LTB4 release. To test this hypothesis, human AMs obtained by bronchoalveolar lavage from 12 subjects were cultured for 4 hours in the presence of anti-C5 Fab' antibodies with stimuli.

Bronchial epithelial cells release chemotactic activity for lymphocytes.

Lymphocytes can frequently be observed in association with bronchial tissues. One mechanism that might account for this association is that bronchial epithelial cells might release chemotactic factors for lymphocytes. To test this hypothesis, bovine bronchial epithelial cells were cultured in serum-free media, and the supernatant fluids were harvested and evaluated for lymphocyte chemotactic activity using a blind-well chamber technique.

Elevation of chemotactic factor inactivator in alcoholic liver disease.

Defective regulation of neutrophil chemotaxis occurs in patients with alcoholic liver disease. One potent mediator of neutrophil chemotaxis is the complement-derived neutrophil chemoattractant, C5a, which can be inhibited by a serum protein, chemotactic factor inactivator. We hypothesized that chemotactic factor inactivator elevation might, in part, explain the defective neutrophil chemotaxis seen in patients with alcoholic hepatitis.

Antigenic identification of chemotactic factor inactivator in normal human serum and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid.

Several proteins have been described that can modulate the activity of the complement component C5a, a potent chemoattractant for neutrophils. One of these inhibitors has been termed chemotactic factor inactivator (CFI). We hypothesized that CFI was antigenically present in normal human serum and that antigenic levels would correlate with the ability of serum to inhibit C5a.